Friday, March 23, 2012

Trayvon Martin Killing - Trying To Uncover The Facts Behind This Case

Was the shooter, of Trayvon Martin, white? I have heard that out of the mouths of black activists and reportedly the police department lists him as such but that is not what I have heard on the news coming from the shooter's family. Mr. Zimmerman, despite his name, is reported in the media as being not of Caucasian origins but as being Hispanic as per statements made by his family. It was fairly typical though how the black community and many in the mud slinging media had at first immediately assumed he was white and thus as a racist. Of course, anyone of any race can be a racist but according to Zimmerman's family that is about as far from the truth as possible in his case and they reportedly base that upon his past interactions with other races. Then again, as I said, anyone can be a racist and labelling him as the evil white man sure sounds like it might be verging on racism. It certainly has caused an outcry in the black community with people comparing this shooting to years of lynchings of blacks by whites. Is it really a case of racism though?

Myself, I think Zimmerman was an overzealous asshole if even half of what has been said about the incident by witnesses is true. He seemingly went overboard in his reported pursuit of this kid. That he pursued him at all is not, as I understand, part of the stand your ground law in question. The 911 operator even told him, in essence, that they did not need Zimmerman following the kid once Zimmerman called him in. As far as I am aware, he did not see the Martin commit any crimes, he just thought him suspicious. Yet, none of that makes him a racist and, and this is very important: None of that necessarily makes him a murderer either. He still could have shot Mr. Martin in self defense as he claims . Even if he instigated the situation, if Martin over reacted to what Mr. Zimmerman was doing and then attacked Zimmerman as he himself claims, well it could have been self defense n Zimmerman's part. I am not defending Zimmerman, mind you, I am just saying it could have been self defense. It could have been manslaughter or murder too. What I am saying is we need to find out the facts before we damn anyone.

For example, we know someone was crying out or pleading as heard on the 911 tape. If in fact, it winds up being proven that it was the child's voice crying, I think Zimmerman winds up not only being arrested but going to jail. If it was Zimmerman crying, as he himself claims, well then maybe he will wind up being committed to an asylum or maybe found not guilty of any crime. I think though, that in the long run, Zimmerman is going to lose in this one. I think so mostly because of emotional outbursts on almost all fronts except for some reason from the police department, they may be his ace in the hole for all of this because they apparently have not gone overboard with emotions. They seem to be convinced that Zimmerman fired in self defense and thus they did not arrest him. They say there is evidence, or so it has been reported, to support Zimmerman's claim of self defense.

Still though, right now, this shooting does not sound like a good one to me and I am most certainly not being emotional. Of course, I do not know all the facts, only what the mud slinging media has allowed us to hear but those facts seem almost damning but isn't it often the case that the media releases what facts seemingly suit them. The media, in many cases, seemingly builds it up as racist whether it is so or not. It is also a fact that black activists also almost immediately march in protest in similar cases just as they have done in this one. That such is done without knowing all of the facts is jumping to conclusions at best and racist at worst. Still though, in this case, I can see both sides. I understand why, after hearing at least 2 witnesses say the kid was crying and then they heard shots, people are outraged. I understand why some people are confused as to why Zimmerman was not arrested, when reportedly, no weapon was found (no weapon used by Martin). I understand how they are in disbelief and very angry that after Zimmerman was, in essence, told by the 911 operator not to follow Martin, he kept doing so and it led to the shooting. No it does not look good for Zimmerman.Please bear in mind, I am not judging him, I am a real believer in everyone getting their day in court, I am just pondering this whole thing and giving my thoughts based on what little I know of the case. Regardless of me thinking it does not look good for Zimmerman, there is the fact that the police, who probably know much more facts than were released, did not arrest or even charge him. For all we know, there are several witnesses who saw the Martin attack Zimmerman as Zimmerman claims, or there are defensive type wounds found on Zimmerman and Martin's DNA found in those wounds or Zimmerman's DA found under Martins fingernails. I am not saying it is so, I am saying the police probably have more evidence and I am hypothesizing, based upon the police saying there was evidence to support his claim of self defense, that then yes there is other evidence of some sort. Still though, I find that a bit unsettling that such evidence has not been released for public review. I would think such information would have been released by the police to at least calm the crowds but then again there could be legal reasons for not doing so.

I have to point out though, the whole claim, as Zimmerman reportedly made it, that he was attacked by Martin as Zimmerman returned to his vehicle, seems far fetched on the face of it. If that happened, there probably has got to be more to it that we have not yet heard about. It would seem likely that the Martin would have kept going, once Zimmerman stopped his pursuit to return to his vehicle but what is likely does not always happen. Zimmerman, according to the Christian Science Monitor, is making that claim. He reportedly said that he was returning to his vehicle and Martin attacked him - "Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he had given up on chasing the teenager and was returning to his sport utility vehicle." (See: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0323/Trayvon-Martin-case-More-protests-Friday-in-Florida/(page)/2). According to the same article, police have reportedly said that Zimmerman's story has been supported as to the self defense claim - "Lee has said evidence supported Zimmerman's assertion that the shooting was in self-defense".

As usual there is more here than meets the eye and community leaders ought to be trying to calm their communities. They should be demanding that the evidence be released as opposed to threatening retaliation if Zimmerman is not arrested, or as opposed to calling for the resignation of local authorities. Since he has not been arrested, I think the police are at liberty to divulge whatever information they have and I think that they should do so, that is unless they are awaiting presentation of the case to a grand jury. If there is no such evidence, well then that would be another story altogether but I think that info should be divulged also. The thing is, we need to know the facts before we know what happened and before we call for any one's head. Those facts should be, need to be, released as soon as possible.

2 comments:

Even Obama agrees with you on this as do I. “You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Mr. Obama said, pausing for a moment. “I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”

Sorry but President Obama does not agree with me or at least I could not disagree more with his statements on this because his statements imply he is a racist. Racism has no part in a criminal investigation. For him to have made the remark, in essence, that if he had a son, he would look like Mr. Martin, then to imply that is why the case needs to be fully investigated, was in my opinion both racist and unprofessional to the core.

The president of the United States should keep his opinions of such things to himself on issues like this. First of all, there is currently a federal investigation ongoing over this shooting. Mr. Obama is the chief executive officer, thus the head law enforcement officer, of this nation. For him to be pubically expressing what is his personal opinion, on an investigation on which his underlings are working was so unprofessional as to be shameful and possibly an ethics violation that should be investigated. Once again he is attempting to interfere, in a very unprofessional manner, with how a police department, in a state, is doing its job. At the same time, he also is no doubt interfering with the civil rights investigation being conducted by federal agents by trying to influence it by way of his office and his personal opinion - let's face it him saying that had he a son, he would look like Mr. Martin was personalizing this beyond belief.

President Obama is entitled to his own opinion, but because of professional and governmental ethics and responsibilities, in an investigation being conducted by federal agents, he is not at liberty to express it. At least it is not ethical for him to do so! What he should have done is to have allowed the investigations that are taking place to be conducted without trying to influence them by the nature of his personal opinion and his office. Such influence is one manner how investigations lose their integrity. As usual though, he is unable to comport himself like the president of the United States of America but conducts himself more like an armchair quarterback on a Monday morning.

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